An article about toilet training for cats. Have you ever wanted to have an alternative to changing that disgusting litter box? Here is a perfect solution. Toilet train your cat and your worries will be over!
Before embarking upon this project, there are a few things to consider. Is your cat very curious? How curious is it about the toilet? As far as the training goes, how much time do you have to devote to this endeavor?
What level of curiosity does your kitten or cat possess? They seem to be nosy about everything! A good candidate for toilet training is a kitten that often jumps on and walks around the rim of the toilet. Your cat may simply love to play in the water that is in the toilet bowl or even assuage his thirst every now and then! They’re ideal candidates to exercise your new found skills on reading this article about toilet training for cats.
The younger the kitten is, the easier it will be to potty train him. It is easier because they are younger, smaller, weigh less, and are not as likely to fall into the toilet. It would not be wise to attempt to train a seven year old cat that weighs fifteen pounds!
The very first thing you must do to start training your kitty to use the human toilet is to train yourself. This is a very important rule to remember: Keep the toilet lid up and the seat down. Place some post-it’s in strategic places in the bathroom if you think you or other members of the family may forget. If you have gotten into the habit of closing the bathroom door when no one is in there that is a habit that must be broken as well.
The next step is to start by moving your kitty’s litter box from wherever it used to be to a location that is by the side of the toilet. Make sure that you kitty is well-adjusted to the new change and is using the litter box on a regular basis. This may take a day of two. Next, you want to find something that you can put under the litter box that will raise it about an inch off the floor. You can either use a phone book, a sturdy cardboard box or a stack of old newspapers. You do not want to use magazines as they are too slick. Let your kitty get used to this idea for a couple of days. After that, you want to continue to raise the litter box a little higher until eventually the bottom of your kitty’s litter box is at a level that is even with the top of your toilet seat. Toilet training for cats is a progressive process.
If you remember when you began this process, your kitty would only have to step into its litter box. Later on, he began jumping into his litter box and towards the end he ended up jumping first on the toilet seat and then he stepped into the litter box. By the end of this process, your cat has totally familiarized himself with tromping around on an open toilet. Now we’re ready for phase 2.
If you are ready to go, then here’s what you do. First, under the toilet seat you want to place a cat trainer liner. There is an actual training kit that you can buy at almost any pet shop for a good price. In the liner, you will want to put some flushable cat litter. Put your kitten on the toilet. Once your kitten has used the litter, clean the litter and then you will want to cut a small hole in the trainer liner. Your kitten will slowly get used to the tinkling sound as the litter filters through the hole into the toilet water. When your kitten has successfully used the toilet, give him or her a treat like Pounce or something similar. Every week you want to decrease the amount of litter that you put in the trainer liner as you increase the hole’s size.
After your kitten has mastered this technique, you should invest in a training seat that was made for toddlers. This seat is much safer since the kitten has more room and there is less of a chance that he may fall into the toilet. You may still have to put a few granules of cat litter on the edge of the seat for a short period of time as cats have a strong need to scratch something when they go to the bathroom.Toilet training your kitten or cat may be a slow process, but consider the advantage of not having to use a litter box again. It is true that the cat does not know how to flush the toilet. However, it would be far easier to convince you child to flush the toilet rather than have them clean out the litter box. The effort you put into this project is far worth the reward. This is not only a novel idea, but a disgusting chore is eliminated! Toilet training for cats works.
Resources:
How to Toilet-Train your Cat
Toilet Training for Cats vs. Kitty Litter
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My cat Einstein uses the bathtub to pee, which I’m fine with. It’s logical and easy to clean. He’s 17 so I’m not going to try to change him now. He did express a new curiosity today as he watched me use the toilet, and he looked like he wanted to try it! I encouraged him but he used the tub instead. Maybe I’ll fashion a screen across the hole to see if he’ll try that.
When domestic cats stop using the litter they tend to use the bathtub which is nice of them.